


Life Begins

by skyslotus



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Character Study, Childhood, Family Dynamics, Reflection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 23:16:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14365818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyslotus/pseuds/skyslotus
Summary: A carnage-wary child arrives at the surface for the first time, bound now to meet the people who would closest resemble his family. Yuu takes on the mantle of "Kanda," given to him by the man who saved his sanity. Kanda leaves for his first mission with his team: General Tiedoll, Noise Marie and Daisya Barry.





	Life Begins

Fixated on the window in awe of the abyssal horizon were eyes that still reflected death. A child wrought from the depths of horror and blood stood fearlessly at the behest of one of the Black Order's generals: a man who sought to nurture the pain from his veins and the sorrow from his heart. While it was fear that saturated his avoidant gaze, contempt was all too obvious in the glower on the young boy's features. Staying close to Marie's side, his demeanor was rough and closed off in the presence of strangers who would soon become his family. His voice was still subdued by the resounding memory of his own screams, lacking any will to speak at all; at least not until the general addressed him directly.  
“What is your name, child?”  
Startled noticeably by how gentle the man's voice was, he straightened, though wore an expression of disbelief. He turned his head up, hoping to receive a prompt from Marie, but was met only with a beckoning smile.  
“Yuu.”  
“Yuu…?”  
“Just Yuu.”  
The general stared for but a moment before filling the hall with exaggerated laughter. With one hand at his hip, he offered the boy a genuine gesture of affection by placing the other hand atop his head. "Well, Just Yuu, I am General Froi Tiedoll. If you wish, you may call me Papa!"  
Marie listened on, endearment pulling at the corners of his lips. He heard distinctly the "che..." that slipped through Yuu's lips which provoked a light chuckle. "I suppose you'll need an official name so you can be registered. How about ... Kanda? I heard it at the marketplace once. It has a nice sound to it."  
Soon pushing aside trivial exasperation, Yuu glanced around once again and was suddenly aware of the walls that surrounded him, of the entities whose audience he was in. So many words were being forced through his mind, concepts and queries that he didn't understand. Three pairs of eyes were watching his every breath with insatiable curiosity. It bred a discomfort that seemed painfully familiar, like he was nothing more than a topic of show and tell. His identity had always been nothing more than the name he was assigned before his own birth, but this name was one of the only mementos that bound him to human existence.

But now, the mere sound of it was enough to make him ill. Over and over in the deserted corners of his memory those cries still resonated. Not so soon would he forget it, how his very bones shook with fear as the strangled calls of his name faded into deathly silence. He hated it, hated the connotation behind it, the pain that remembering what it sounded like brought.  
“Kanda…”  
Somehow the pain subsided immediately as he repeated it. As if the sun had risen again with new ambitions, he felt a revived hope within his heart. "Kanda" reverberated through his head, striking as an identity of strength and fortitude. What was truly so profound to him was not the idea of his own identity, but the sentiment that it was to him by someone who viewed him as no less than a human being. The child nodded his head, regarding those around him with a determination he would later become renowned for.  
“Fine. Call me that from now on, then. Don’t call me Yuu anymore.”  
The joy in Tiedoll’s eyes was shrouded by despair. The truth of this child’s existence was an immense secret that could never leave the lips of those who bore it. He saw a young boy staring back at him with eyes full of death. The Black Order had already swallowed him into its dark depths, long before he had even awakened. There was no joy in forcing the life of a soldier upon one so young, in denying him the childhood he deserved. His joy was felt not as a General accepting another student, but as a man who yearned for the opportunity to raise a child. He knelt to meet Kanda’s gaze, the hands of a caring man settling upon the shoulders of a broken child.  
“You’re a part of our family now, little one. You can rely on us.” Tiedoll said, his voice softened with a welcoming manner.  
Yet the words sounded almost foreign to Kanda, even as his eyes glanced between Marie, Tiedoll, and the other exorcist. Only in the dormant depths of his memory did the semblance of family exist, for nothing was born there but abominations to human kind. These three men now regarded him in similar compassion, like he was anything but a monster. For all the hatred that dwelled in Kanda’s heart, it was noticeably quelled by a blooming sense of belonging. His silence was kept, though in acknowledgment he offered a slight nod of his head.  
Tiedoll straightened then, the elated smile he wore soon fading to a dismayed frown. “Although, I’m sorry but we don’t have much time for family picnics and fun. We already have orders for our next assignment.”  
“Ehhh? Don’t you think that’s a bit soon, old man?” the third member of the team interjected. “I’m Daisya Barry, by the way! Don’t you worry little guy, we’ll take good care of ya!”  
Daisya, too, was just a boy: barely older than Kanda. Knowing that he was not the only one to enter a life of war and servitude at such a small age was almost a comfort to him, but still he had little to respond with. The reception was beginning to be overwhelming, his chest filling with the strange notion that kindness still existed in the outside world. Wary as he was, he regarded all of them now with belief that they wouldn’t abandon him or perpetuate the seas of lies he nearly drowned in previously, just as what he knew a family should.  
“Nonsense, my son. There is no time like the present to begin a new journey.”


End file.
